Main content

Oliver Postgate

Andrew Davenport, creator of In the Night Garden, chooses Oliver Postgate.

"Postgate's work is deep inside me and I think that's true for so many of my generation...His work represents nothing less than a touchstone for our national imagination and in that sense it's profoundly important"

Andrew Davenport, writer, composer, and creator of Teletubbies and In the Night Garden, nominates Oliver Postgate, who, along with his Smallfilms business partner, the artist Peter Firmin, invented the children's television shows Ivor the Engine, The Clangers and, perhaps most loved of all, Bagpuss.

Postgate was a late bloomer. Following Dartington school (which he hated) a stint in jail and working the land, several odd jobs and even odder inventions, he eventually discovered a love of stop-motion animation and created some of the most enduring worlds and best-loved characters in television, all from a cowshed in Kent.

Including clips of his programmes, contributions from singer and musician Sandra Kerr. and archive from Postgate's 2007 Desert Island Discs interview.

With cultural historian Matthew Sweet. Produced by Ellie Richold. Presented by Matthew Parris.

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Mon 6 Oct 2025 15:00

Featured

  • .

Credits

Role Contributor
Interviewed Guest Andrew Davenport
Participant Matthew Sweet
Participant Sandra Kerr

Broadcast

  • Mon 6 Oct 2025 15:00

Great Rock and Roll Lives

Great Rock and Roll Lives

Stories of inspiration from great musicians from Bowie to Billie Holliday

Download this programme

Subscribe to this programme or download individual episodes.

Podcast